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Apple unveiled plans to scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse, drawing applause from child protection groups but raising concern among some security researchers that the system could be misused, including by governments looking to surveil their citizens.

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A 3-week-old wildfire engulfed a tiny Northern California mountain town, leveling most of its historic downtown and leaving blocks of homes in ashes, while a new wind-whipped blaze destroyed homes as crews braced for another explosive run of flames Thursday amid dangerous weather.

NEW YORK (AP) — He said his actions had been misconstrued, his words misunderstood. He said it was cultural: He hugs, he kisses, he says “Ciao, bella.” He said it was generational: Sometimes he lapses into “honey” or “sweetheart” or tells bad jokes.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The founder of the Sydney-based global Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, has been charged with concealing child sex offenses, police said Thursday.

Detectives served Houston’s lawyers on Thursday with a notice for him to appear in a Sydney court on Oct.

CANTERBURY, N.H. (AP) — For almost three decades, 81-year-old David Lidstone has lived in the woods of New Hampshire along the Merrimack River in a small cabin adorned with solar panels. He has grown his own food, cut his own firewood, and tended to his pets and chickens.

The nation's top aviation regulator is suggesting that local police around the country should file charges more often against unruly airline passengers and that airports should clamp down on alcohol sales.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The rare clash this week between the Biden administration and congressional Democrats over a lapsed eviction moratorium could become a blueprint for even larger fights that lie ahead.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts will likely miss the band's upcoming U.S. tour to allow him to recover from an unspecified medical procedure.

A spokesperson for the musician said the procedure was “completely successful” but that Watts needs time to recuperate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The party for the nation's 44th president will go on, but only for family and close friends.

Former President Barack Obama has scaled back his 60th birthday bash set for this weekend at his Martha's Vineyard home off the Massachusetts coast due to the surge of infections blamed on the delta variant of the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist backed by former President Donald Trump, beat a bevy of Republicans in central Ohio, while Cuyahoga County Council member Shontel Brown pulled out a victory for the Democratic establishment in Cleveland, in a pair of primary elections for open House seats Tuesday.

O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday that he made good on his promise to pardon a couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators as they marched past the couple's home in a luxury St.

KAMIYOGA, Japan (AP) — Equestrian jumpers aren't keen on surprises. Neither are the horses, and it takes years of training to keep them from getting spooked.

Of course, no horse in Tuesday night's Olympic jumping qualifier had ever seen anything like obstacle No.

The president of Activision's Blizzard Entertainment is stepping down weeks after the maker of video games like “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty,” was hit with a discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit in California as well as backlash from employees over their work environment.

It's a perfect day for Reese Witherspoon as the actress and producer is selling the media company she founded to a newly formed company backed by private equity firm Blackstone Group.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal was worth about $900 million.

TOKYO (AP) — The image of Communist China's founding leader, Mao Zedong, made an unscheduled appearance at the Tokyo Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it is “looking into the matter.”

PepsiCo will sell Tropicana and other juices to a private equity firm in a $3.3 billion deal.

The New York drink and snack company will keep a 39% non-controlling stake in a newly formed joint venture in the deal with PAI Partners.

BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Tuesday convicted an 84-year-old man of illegal weapons possession for having a personal arsenal that included a tank, a flak cannon and multiple other items of World War II-era military equipment.

Kathy Griffin has revealed that she is undergoing surgery for lung cancer and her doctors are optimistic she “should be up and running around as usual in a month or less.”

The comedian took to Instagram and Twitter Monday to say her cancer was caught early and confined to her left lung.

PARIS (AP) — A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to female twin cubs early Monday, a French zoo announced, declaring “they are very lively, pink and plump.”

The Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, said the twins were born shortly after 1 a.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thanks to a reworked menu and long hours, Jeannie Kim managed to keep her San Francisco restaurant alive during the coronavirus pandemic.

That makes it all the more frustrating that she fears her breakfast-focused diner could be ruined within months by new rules that could make one of her top menu items — bacon — hard to get in California.

Ashley Judd is walking again, nearly six months after shattering her leg deep in a Congolese rainforest.

Judd posted a video of herself on Instagram on Sunday walking by herself up a hill in a national park in the Swiss alps.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Miles Robinson scored on a header in the 117th minute, and a United States junior varsity lineup upset a mostly front-line Mexico team 1-0 on Sunday night to win the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Digital payments company Square Inc. says it has agreed to acquire Afterpay, which provides a “buy now, pay later’’ option for merchants, in an all-stock deal valued at about $29 billion.

Square allows retailers to process credit card transactions using devices that plug into tablets or smartphones.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Knox is speaking out about her name being associated with the new film “Stillwater,” saying any connection rips off "my story without my consent at the expense of my reputation."

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Michael Jackson's musical legacy never left, but a kind of comeback is coming.

With a series of court victories that bring the end to serious legal crises, with a Broadway show beginning and a Cirque du Soleil show returning after a long pandemic pause, the Jackson business is on the upswing 12 years after the pop superstar's death.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An attack on an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire killed two crew members off Oman in the Arabian Sea, authorities said Friday, marking the first fatalities after years of assaults targeting shipping in the region.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scarlett Johansson is suing the Walt Disney Co. over its streaming release of “Black Widow,” which she said breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the “Black Widow” star and executive producer said her contract guaranteed an exclusive theatrical release.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The largest earthquake in the United States in the last half century produced a lot of shaking but spared Alaska any major damage in a sparsely populated region, officials said Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street gave Robinhood a cool reception Thursday in the online broker's debut in the stock market that it helped reshape by bringing millions of new investors.

HOUSTON (AP) — ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, the long-bearded bassist for the million-selling Texas blues rock trio known for such hits as “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin'," has died at age 72.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, guitarist Billy Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard said Hill died in his sleep.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Arthur” will soon come to an end.

PBS Kids plans to end the long-running children’s series after 25 seasons, said an original developer of the show during a podcast released Wednesday.

KANE, Pa. (AP) — A crank caller ordered an “insurrection pizza” from Pauline Bauer’s restaurant. A profane piece of hate mail addressed her as a domestic terrorist. She even became a punchline for Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show on CBS.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk had a “heart related incident” when he collapsed on the show's New Mexico set, and his condition is stable as he recovers at a hospital, his representatives said Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album forfeited by Martin Shkreli after his securities fraud conviction was sold Tuesday for an undisclosed sum, though prosecutors say it was enough to fully satisfy the rest of what he owed on a $7.4 million forfeiture order he faced after his 2018 sentencing.

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Retired Sen. Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican known as a consensus-builder in an increasingly polarized Washington, has died after he broke his neck in a bicycle accident. He was 77.

BERLIN (AP) — An explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies in Germany killed at least two people on Tuesday, with 31 others injured and several still missing hours later. Fire officials who tested the air said there did not appear to be a danger to nearby residents after authorities initially urged people to shelter inside.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

The chief executive of the company that makes Marlboro cigarettes was quoted by Britain's Mail on Sunday as saying that the tobacco company foresaw an end to its sales of traditional cigarettes in Britain within 10 years.

KANOSH, Utah (AP) — A sandstorm caused a huge 22-vehicle pileup on a Utah highway that left eight people dead, including four children, authorities said.

The Sunday afternoon crashes on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh came at the end of a holiday weekend for the state that often leads to increased highway traffic.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Troops surrounded Tunisia’s parliament and blocked its speaker from entering Monday after the president suspended the legislature and fired the prime minister and other top members of government, sparking concerns for the North African country's young democracy at home and abroad.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeVar Burton’s quest to become the new host of “Jeopardy!” has been a confident, upbeat effort by the actor and those who rooted him on with a petition drive.

But when the day came to tape the first of his week's share of episodes as one of a succession of guest hosts, the show's pace and the challenge of following in Alex Trebek's much-admired footsteps threw Burton off stride.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — An unvaccinated snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has contracted COVID-19.

Caretakers noticed that Ramil, a 9-year-old male snow leopard, had a cough and runny nose on Thursday.

Maria Taylor has joined NBC less than a week after her contract with ESPN expired.

NBC formally made the announcement during its primetime Olympic show Friday before a replay of the opening ceremony.

LONDON (AP) — U.S. Air Force Maj. Grant Thompson thanked a British photographer the best way he knew how - by ripping the flight patch from his shoulder and handing it to the man whose quick action last week ensured he landed safely after an engine in his F-15E Strike Eagle malfunctioned.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie scored a major victory Friday in her divorce with Brad Pitt when a California appeals court agreed with her that the private judge deciding who gets custody of their children should be disqualified.

CLEVELAND (AP) — While riding his bike over a bridge across the Cuyahoga River near Progressive Field, Indians owner Paul Dolan rarely paid much attention to the eight giant stone figures that seem to guard the city.

MIAMI (AP) — Firefighters on Friday declared the end of their search for bodies at the site of a collapsed Florida condo building, concluding a month of painstaking work removing layers of dangerous debris that were once piled several stories high.

TOKYO (AP) — The athletes of the Tokyo Olympics stepped into the world of Japanese comics and graphic novels when manga was featured prominently in the opening ceremony on Friday.

The placards for the country names for the parade of athletes used manga speech bubbles, and the costumes for the placard bearers and assistants had manga touches in their design.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In his first interview in six months, disgraced country star Morgan Wallen said it was ignorant of him to use a racial slur.

During an interview with Michael Strahan on ABC's “Good Morning America" on Friday, Wallen said he didn't use it in a derogatory manner, but it was still wrong.

Kanye West barely said a word during his album listening session Thursday night, but the mercurial rapper still had most attendees standing on their feet while hanging on every word of his new project.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican politicians are under increasing pressure to speak out to persuade COVID-19 vaccine skeptics to roll up their sleeves and take the shots as a new, more contagious variant sends caseloads soaring.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI's background investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided “all relevant” ones to the White House counsel's office.

MIAMI (AP) — A giant video screen collapsed Thursday at a South Florida stadium, a day before the Rolling Loud hip-hop music festival was set to begin. There were no injuries.

Organizers posted on Twitter that the screen toppled over onto one of the festival's stages at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, but it was expected to be repaired before doors opened Friday.

NFL teams that experience a COVID-19 outbreak among nonvaccinated players could forfeit regular-season games, with players on both teams not getting paid.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned the 32 teams Thursday in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that no games would be rescheduled under such circumstances.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials said Thursday they now have evidence of an untreatable fungus spreading in two hospitals and a nursing home.

The “superbug” outbreaks were reported in a Washington, D.C, nursing home and at two Dallas-area hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

When a religious publication used smartphone app data to deduce the sexual orientation of a high-ranking Roman Catholic official, it exposed a problem that goes far beyond a debate over church doctrine and priestly celibacy.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Church bells rang out across Norway on Thursday to mark the 10th anniversary of the country’s worst peacetime slaughter as leaders called for renewed efforts to fight the extremism behind the attack that left 77 people dead.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials from the Nebraska State Patrol defended their state-funded mission to the U.S.-Mexican border on Thursday, arguing that they were answering a call for help from fellow law enforcement officers in Texas amid a surge in illegal border crossings.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Thousands of fans lined downtown Milwaukee streets on Thursday to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship in half a century.

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Netflix reported its worst slowdown in subscriber growth in eight years as people emerge from their pandemic cocoons. So it’s adding a new attraction to its marquee: Video games.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Three weeks ago, a knee injury left Giannis Antetokounmpo looking 50/50 to return for the rest of the Bucks' playoff run.

Look at him now.

The Greek Freak delivered perhaps the best performance of his career at the best possible moment and can now add an NBA Finals MVP award to his two regular-season MVP trophies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center Honors will return in December with a class that includes Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, “Saturday Night Live” mastermind Lorne Michaels and actress-singer Bette Midler.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, angrily confronted Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday in testimony on Capitol Hill, rejecting Paul's insinuation that the U.S.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister vowed Tuesday to “act aggressively” against the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling its ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories, as the country’s ambassador to the U.S.

ATLANTA (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted social media companies over her temporary suspension from Twitter on Tuesday, calling it “a Communist-style attack on free speech."

Twitter imposed the 12-hour timeout on Monday, saying some of her tweets violated its policy against spreading misinformation that could cause harm during the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry is writing what his publisher is calling an “intimate and heartfelt memoir.”

Random House expects to release the book, currently untitled, late in 2022.

“I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become," the Duke of Sussex, 36, said in a statement Monday.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

Robinhood, the online brokerage that found itself embroiled in this year's meme stock phenomenon, will go public next week seeking a market valuation of up to $35 billion.

The company said in a regulatory filing Monday that it hopes to price 55 million shares in its initial public offering in a range of $38 to $42 per share.

TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo court handed down prison terms for the American father and son accused of helping Nissan’s former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, escape to Lebanon while awaiting trial in Japan.

Michael Taylor was sentenced Monday to two years in prison, while his son Peter was sentenced to one year and eight months.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A cocktail of propaganda, conspiracy theory and disinformation — of the kind intoxicating to the masses in the darkest turns of history — is fueling delusion over the agonies of Jan.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — When Blue Origin launches people into space for the first time, founder Jeff Bezos will be on board. No test pilots or flight engineers for Tuesday’s debut flight from West Texas, just Bezos, his brother, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and a teenage tourist.

When the gunshots started to echo all around Nationals Park, San Diego Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. quickly thought about the team's family members and friends in the seats.

Tatis bolted from the bench down the left field line Saturday night, helped open a gate to the stands and began ushering a group back to the dugout for shelter.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Pandemic restrictions on Florida-based cruise ships will remain in place after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a previous ruling that sided with a Florida lawsuit challenging the regulations.

ATLANTA (AP) — Congressional Democrats are exploring ways to include financial incentives for states to expand voting access as part of a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure bill, a key senator said Sunday.

BERLIN (AP) — The front-runner to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's September election has apologized for a scene in which he was seen laughing in the background as the country's president delivered a statement on the devastating floods in western Germany.

TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — Free lottery tickets for those who get vaccinated had few takers. Free hunting and fishing licenses didn't change many minds either. And this being red-state Arkansas, mandatory vaccinations are off the table.

PHOENIX (AP) — Former President Donald Trump issued three statements in two days falsely claiming that voting fraud and irregularities cost him Arizona's electoral votes.

Trump relied on comments made Thursday by contractors hired by state Senate Republicans to oversee a partisan review of the 2020 vote count in Maricopa County, which includes metro Phoenix.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The official list of who's running in California's recall election of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom remained unsettled Sunday, with conservative talk radio host Larry Elder maintaining he should be included but state officials saying he submitted incomplete tax returns, a requirement to run.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The game between the San Diego Padres and Washington was suspended in the sixth inning Saturday night after a shooting outside Nationals Park that caused echoes of gunfire inside the stadium and prompted fans to scramble for safety in the dugout.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three of the Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas to stymie a Republican-backed effort to impose broad new voting restrictions have tested positive for COVID-19 and are quarantined, the Texas House's Democratic Caucus director said Saturday.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Republican House Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene held a protest Saturday after a third venue in California canceled their event.

Instead, they held a protest outside City Hall in Riverside, where one of the events was canceled.

WAKAYAMA, Japan (AP) — Germany’s Olympic soccer team walked off the field during a preparation match for the Tokyo Games on Saturday in response to alleged racist abuse from an opposing Honduras player toward German defender Jordan Torunarigha.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two people died and multiple people were injured, some critically, in four different early morning shootings Saturday in Portland, Oregon, a city that has seen gun violence and associated homicide rates soar in the past six months.

WASHINGTON (AP) — What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Biz Markie, a hip-hop staple known for his beatboxing prowess, turntable mastery and the 1989 classic “Just a Friend,” has died. He was 57.

Markie’s representative, Jenni Izumi, said the rapper-DJ died peacefully Friday evening with his wife by his side.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian aircraft makers say they will present a prospective new fighter jet at a Moscow air show that opens next week.

The new warplane hidden under tarpaulin was photographed being towed to a parking spot across an airfield in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, where the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon opens Tuesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Olympic committee said Saturday it removed banners at the Olympic athletes’ village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the International Olympic Committee ruled they were provocative.

The revelation that a documentary filmmaker used voice-cloning software to make the late chef Anthony Bourdain say words he never spoke has drawn criticism amid ethical concerns about use of the powerful technology.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For crimes he called “vicious and frightening,” a judge on Friday gave a death sentence to a man prosecutors called “The Boy Next Door Killer” for the home-invasion murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis cracked down Friday on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for Donald Trump’s quest for “perfect” hair.

The Biden administration is reversing a Trump-era rule approved after the former president complained he wasn’t getting wet enough because of limits on water flow from showerheads.

BRADFORD, Vt. (AP) — A hot air balloon designer and pilot who died after becoming entangled in gear underneath the basket of his balloon and then fell was known for his eccentricity and prowess in the industry.

SEATTLE (AP) — Former Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers star Richard Sherman said Friday that he is “deeply remorseful” following his arrest on accusations of drunkenly crashing his SUV in a construction zone and trying to break in to his in-laws’ suburban Seattle home this week.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The left-leaning government of Greenland has decided to suspend all oil exploration off the world’s largest island, calling it is “a natural step” because the Arctic government “takes the climate crisis seriously.”

ROME (AP) — Archaeologists have discovered a rare stone delineating the city limits of ancient Rome that dates from the age of Emperor Claudius in 49 A.D. and was found during excavations for a new sewage system.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Three years after a mass shooting left five dead at a Maryland newspaper, relief that the gunman has been found criminally responsible is tempered by lingering sorrow among residents of the state’s picturesque capital who vividly recall the attack that shattered their community.

A cargo airline whose plane ditched into the ocean off Hawaii has been grounded after investigators looked into the company's safety practices before the accident.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it will bar Rhoades Aviation of Honolulu from flying or doing maintenance inspections until it meets FAA regulations.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County residents will again be required to wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status, while the University of California system said that students, faculty and staff must be inoculated against the coronavirus to return to campuses.

LONDON (AP) — Former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones said Friday that he dislikes former bandmate John Lydon and hasn’t spoken to him since 2008 but denied that a TV series about the band would make the singer once known as Johnny Rotten look bad.

Two NFL teams remain under 50% vaccinated less than two weeks from the start of training camp, a person familiar with the vaccination rates told The Associated Press.

As for Friday, Washington and Indianapolis had the two lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates among the 32 teams in the league, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t released the numbers, which are changing daily.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The child tax credit had always been an empty gesture to millions of parents like Tamika Daniel.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Peter R. de Vries, a renowned Dutch journalist who fearlessly reported on the violent underworld of the Netherlands and campaigned to breathe new life into cold cases, has died at age 64 after being shot in a brazen attack last week, his family said Thursday.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — A girls home director who was driving a van that crashed in Alabama, killing two of her own children, two nephews and four other youths, wept Thursday at a remembrance where she said religious faith has sustained her since the wreck.

DETROIT (AP) — The Canadian government has rejected a creative plan to have Ontario residents line up inside a U.S. border tunnel to tap into a surplus of COVID-19 vaccine held by Michigan, a mayor said.

Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that it is recalling five of its sunscreen products after some samples were found to contain low levels of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer with repeated exposure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, a female sailor has successfully completed the grueling 37-week training course to become a Naval Special Warfare combatant-craft crewman — the boat operators who transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions at sea.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The owner of Israel's Beitar Jerusalem soccer club said Thursday that he called off a friendly match with international powerhouse Barcelona over its refusal to hold the event in contested Jerusalem.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge allowed Britney Spears to hire an attorney of her choosing at a hearing Wednesday in which she broke down in tears after describing the “cruelty" of her conservatorship.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny approved Spears hiring former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, who called on Spears' father to immediately resign as her conservator.

In a medical first, researchers harnessed the brain waves of a paralyzed man unable to speak — and turned what he intended to say into sentences on a computer screen.

It will take years of additional research but the study, reported Wednesday, marks an important step toward one day restoring more natural communication for people who can’t talk because of injury or illness.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Olivia Rodrigo wants people to know that the COVID-19 vaccines are “good 4 u.”

The 18-year-old pop star and internet sensation was at the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden and Dr.

BANGKOK (AP) — After 24 years of heartache and searching, a Chinese couple were reunited with their son who was abducted as a toddler outside their front gate.

Guo Gangtang and his wife, Zhang Wenge, hugged their 26-year-old son with tears in their eyes Sunday at a reunion organized by police in their hometown of Liaocheng in the eastern province of Shandong, according to a video recording released by police.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was discharged from a Rome hospital and returned home to the Vatican on Wednesday, 10 days after undergoing surgery to remove half his colon.

BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Officials in Minnesota said they’re finding more giant goldfish in waterways, prompting a plea to citizens to stop illegally dumping their unwanted fish into ponds and lakes.

BOSTON (AP) — Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has sued a Massachusetts cannabis dispensary he says used an image of his character Borat on a billboard without his permission, according to documents filed in U.S.

BLY, Ore. (AP) — An army of firefighters labored in hot, dry and windy weather Tuesday to contain fires chewing through wilderness and burning homes across drought-stricken Western states already sweltering in the second heat wave of the year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden will attend the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics in Tokyo, the White House announced Tuesday, even as the city has entered a new state of emergency over a rise in coronavirus cases.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The Crown” tied with “The Mandalorian” for the most Emmy nominations Tuesday with 24 apiece, but the Marvel universe also got bragging rights with runner-up “WandaVision.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Monday added a new warning to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine about links to a rare and potentially dangerous neurological reaction, but said it’s not entirely clear the shot caused the problem.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats in the Texas Legislature bolted Monday for Washington, and said they were ready to remain there for weeks in a second revolt against a GOP overhaul of election laws, forcing a dramatic new showdown over voting rights in America.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was at a public transit station in Wisconsin, talking about repairing roads and bridges, when he shifted gears and began defending his plan to send money to parents for each minor child, payments some critics call a “giveaway.”

DALLAS (AP) — An unopened copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 has sold at auction for $1.56 million.

Heritage Auctions in Dallas said that the 1996 game sold Sunday, breaking its previous record price for the sale of a single video game.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Drake Bell, the former star of the popular Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh,” was sentenced in Cleveland on Monday to two years' probation on child endangerment charges relating to a girl who met him online and accused him of sexual contact after she attended his concert when she was 15.

DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge considering whether to order sanctions against some of former President Donald Trump's lawyers spent hours Monday drilling deeply into details about an unsuccessful lawsuit that challenged Michigan's 2020 election results.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Wolf pups have been spotted again on Isle Royale, a hopeful sign in the effort to rebuild the predator species' population at the U.S. national park, scientists said Monday.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship Sunday, bringing astro-tourism a step closer to reality and beating out his exceedingly richer rival Jeff Bezos.

LONDON (AP) — British police opened investigations Monday into the racist abuse of three Black players who failed to score penalties in England's shootout loss to Italy in the European Championship final.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Across Florida, people living in the thousands of condominiums rising above the state’s 1,350 miles of coastline wonder if the building collapse in Surfside could happen to their home as state and local officials discuss what they can do to make sure it doesn't.

CANNES, France (AP) — Sean Penn has been to the Cannes Film Festival about a dozen times — from bumming around with Robert De Niro in 1984 to presiding over the jury.

Archaeologists combing a hill near Plymouth Rock where a park will be built in tribute to the Pilgrims and their Native American predecessors have made a poignant discovery: It's not the first time the site has been used as a memorial.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rocker Marilyn Manson surrendered to police in Los Angeles last week in connection with a 2019 arrest warrant out of New Hampshire where he allegedly assaulted a videographer at a concert, authorities said.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Zaila Avant-garde understood the significance of what she was doing as she stood on the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage, peppering pronouncer Jacques Bailly with questions about Greek and Latin roots.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aftershocks have hit the region between Northern California and Nevada Friday after a magnitude 6 earthquake sent large boulders rolling into highways and knocked smaller items off shelves.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 400,000 pickup trucks in the U.S. because the side air bags can explode without warning and spew parts into the cabin.

The recall covers certain 2015 and 2016 Chevrolet and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks.

The recent emergence of a virus that typically sickens children in colder months has baffled U.S. pediatricians and put many infants in the hospital with troublesome coughs and breathing trouble.

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a common cause of cold-like symptoms but can be serious for infants and the elderly.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California judge decided victims of the 2019 synagogue shooting near San Diego that killed one worshiper and wounded three can sue the manufacturer of the semiautomatic rifle and the gun shop that sold it to the teenage gunman, according to a newspaper report.

HELENA Mont. (AP) — A tiny western Montana town where a grizzly bear pulled a woman from her tent and killed her this week welcomes visitors year-round to the mountain valley community along the banks of a river made famous by the movie “A River Runs Through It.”

PARIS (AP) — Paris police released rapper Lil Baby from custody on Friday after fining him for having cannabis in his car, according to the city prosecutor's office. He was stopped along with NBA star James Harden, who was frisked but not detained.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — For the first time, scientists say they have seen a species of bright green algae growing in the waters off California — and they are hoping it's the last.

The invasive algae can overtake the environment and displace critical food sources for ocean animals on the Southern California coast.

NEW YORK (AP) — Alina Clark is about as tired of her pandemic wardrobe as her comfort clothes are stretched and torn.

“I have four sets of jeans, seven shirts and five sweaters that I wear every week,” said Clark, co-founder of a software development company in Los Angeles.

BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentinian golfer Ángel Cabrera, a former Masters and U.S. Open champion, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison on assault charges against his former partner.

A court in the province of Cordoba, 500 miles (about 800 kilometers) northwest of Buenos Aires, convicted the 51-year-old for assaulting, threatening and harassing Cecilia Torres Mana, his partner between 2016 and 2018.

COCKEYSVILLE, Maryland (AP) — People used to go to Valley View Farms to buy five tomato plants and end up with $5,000 in patio furniture.

This year is different. After a record burst of sales in March, the showroom floor is almost empty of outdoor chairs, tables and chaises for people to buy.

The deadly heat wave that roasted the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures, a new quick scientific analysis found.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — When the University of North Carolina first declined to vote on granting tenure to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, kicking off a protracted battle marked by allegations of racism and conservative backlash over her work examining the legacy of slavery, Black students and faculty at UNC saw yet another example of the institution's failure to welcome and support scholars and students of color.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The uncle of a teenager who recorded the last moments of George Floyd's life in a video that helped launch a global protest movement against racial injustice has died in a crash involving a Minneapolis police car, officials confirmed Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Essential workers who helped New York City through the COVID-19 pandemic were honored Wednesday with a parade up Broadway — nurses, doctors, first responders, teachers, bus drivers and more riding on floats through a canyon of tall buildings and falling confetti.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears' court-appointed attorney on Tuesday filed documents to resign from her conservatorship, the latest of several such moves that have come in the fallout from the pop singer's comments in court decrying the legal arrangement that controls her money and affairs.

NEW YORK (AP) — For “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, the inspirations for art and philanthropy are inextricably linked.

On Wednesday, Miranda is announcing a series of donations to organizations that serve immigrants, whose experiences are central to the new film version of his hit Broadway musical “In the Heights.”

NEW DELHI (AP) — Bollywood icon Dilip Kumar, hailed as the “Tragedy King” and one of Hindi cinema's greatest actors, died Wednesday in a Mumbai hospital after a prolonged illness. He was 98.

The “Tragedy King” title came from Kumar’s numerous serious roles.

ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian authorities announced the release Wednesday of a hulking shipping vessel that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week earlier this year.

The Ever Given left the canal's Great Bitter Lake, where it had been held for over three months amid a financial dispute.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A regulator on Tuesday ordered an Iowa amusement park not to restart a popular boat ride pending an investigation into an accident that killed an 11-year-old boy and left his brother in critical condition.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The daughter of rock icon Bruce Springsteen and singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa has been selected as one of four riders on the U.S. jumping team that will compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — “The Voice” coaches Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton celebrated their nuptials over the Fourth of July holiday during a weekend wedding in Oklahoma.

The pop star and the country star posted photos on Monday of their wedding including an image of the couple posing under a twilight sky.

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast in what authorities described Monday as a tragic accident at a Michigan home on the Fourth of July.

POYNETTE, Wis. (AP) — The world’s tallest horse has died in Wisconsin.

The 20-year-old Belgian named Big Jake lived on Smokey Hollow Farm in Poynette. Valicia Gilbert, wife of the farm's owner, Jerry Gilbert, said Big Jake died two weeks ago but declined to give the exact date of death when The Associated Press reached her Monday via Facebook.

NEW YORK (AP) — “Sesame Street” is about to get a whole lot cuter.

Elmo, Grover, Abby Cadabby and the rest of the Muppet gang are introducing a new character to the show this summer — a white-and-brown puppy named Tango, The Associated Press has learned.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

MOVIES

— It’s not free, but Marvel’s long-awaited “Black Widow” standalone comes to Disney+ on Friday for a $29.99 rental (it’s debuting simultaneously in theaters nationwide).

This summer is already shaping up to be a difficult one for air travelers.

Southwest Airlines customers have struggled with thousands of delays and hundreds of canceled flights in the past three weeks because of computer problems, staffing shortages and bad weather.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO on Monday, handing over the reins as the company navigates the challenges of a world fighting to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

Andy Jassy, who ran Amazon's cloud-computing business, replaced Bezos, a change the company announced in February.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Officials on Friday hunted for any missing residents of a British Columbia town destroyed by wildfire as the Canadian province's chief coroner said reports suggest two people have died as a result of blaze.

The Transportation Department will propose that airlines be required to refund fees on checked baggage if the bags aren't delivered to passengers quickly enough.

The proposal, if made final after a lengthy regulation-writing process, would also require prompt refunds for fees on extras such as internet access if the airline fails to provide the service during the flight.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson is aiming to beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos into space by nine days.

Branson’s company announced Thursday evening that its next test flight will be July 11 and that its founder will be among the six people on board.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden praised sports' ability to heal and bring a nation together in a time of crisis as he hosted the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at the White House on Friday.

LONDON (AP) — Police in London said Friday that a 23-year-old man has been charged with the “common assault” of England’s chief medical officer in a park in central London.

The Metropolitan Police said Lewis Hughes was charged with common assault on Thursday evening and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 30.

BATH, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Navy pulled the plug, for now, on a futuristic weapon that fires projectiles at up to seven times the speed of sound using electricity.

The Navy spent more than a decade developing the electromagnetic railgun and once considered putting them on the stealthy new Zumwalt-class destroyers built at Maine's Bath Iron Works.

NEW YORK (AP) — Meghan McCain, whose outspoken conservative views have frequently led to verbal fireworks and compelling television on ABC's “The View,” said Thursday that she is quitting the daytime talk show after four years.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered the release of a woman who has spent 3 1/2 years in a state mental health facility after being convicted of stabbing her classmate to please the Slender Man character.

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) — Thailand embarked on an ambitious but risky plan Thursday that it hopes will breathe new life into a tourism industry devastated by the pandemic, opening the popular resort island of Phuket to fully vaccinated foreigners from lower-risk countries.

LONDON (AP) — Princes William and Harry put aside their differences Thursday to unveil a statue of Princess Diana, cementing their late mother’s place in royal history on what would have been her 60th birthday.

The NFL has fined the Washington Football Team $10 million and owner Dan Snyder is stepping away from day-to-day operations for several months after an independent investigation found the organization’s workplace “highly unprofessional," especially for women.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Jennifer Hudson will headline an August concert in Central Park, marking the city's comeback from the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas congressman who has been an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mask mandates went without a mask for at least a portion of a commercial airline flight Tuesday evening, an apparent violation of federal law.

CRANBROOK, British Columbia (AP) — A Canadian Indigenous group said Wednesday a search using ground-penetrating radar has found 182 human remains in unmarked graves at a site near a former Catholic Church-run residential school that housed Indigenous children taken from their families.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Franco and his co-defendants agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he intimidated students at an acting and film school he founded into gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations, court filings made public Wednesday showed.

NEW YORK (AP) — TV actor Allison Mack, who played a key role in the scandal-ridden, cult-like group NXIVM, was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday on charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group’s spiritual leader.

NEW YORK (AP) — Reaction to Wednesday's Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling overturning Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction, allowing him to be released from from prison:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated top officials for failures in coronavirus prevention that caused a “great crisis,” using strong language that raised the specter of a mass outbreak in a country that would be scarcely able to handle it.

LONDON (AP) — They were once so close.

Princes William and Harry grew up together, supported each other after their mother’s untimely death and worked side by side as they began their royal duties — two brothers seemingly bonded for life by blood, tradition and tragedy.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — While she pleaded for prosecutors to take up her college rape complaint, Shannon Keeler studied in Spain, won a national championship in lacrosse, earned a bachelor's degree and fell in love.

The Titanic is disappearing. The iconic ocean liner that was sunk by an iceberg is now slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria: holes pervade the wreckage, the crow's nest is already gone and the railing of the ship's iconic bow could collapse at any time.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving a pandemic-inspired nationwide ban on evictions in place, over the votes of four objecting conservative justices.

The court on Tuesday rejected a plea by landlords to end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium on evicting millions of tenants who aren't paying rent during the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Democratic primary for mayor of New York City was thrown into a state of confusion Tuesday when election officials retracted their latest report on the vote count after realizing it had been corrupted by test data never cleared from a computer system.

WALDOBORO, Maine (AP) — With millions of people having stayed home from places of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, struggling congregations have one key question: How many of them will return?

Talk about a heavy snack. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed a black hole swallowing a neutron star, the most dense object in the universe — all in a split-second gulp.

Ten days later they saw the same thing, on the other side of the universe.

MARION, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina state lawmaker and failed congressional candidate has been placed on leave from her Pentagon job during a probe into allegations of an unauthorized release of classified information, according to her attorney.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The unprecedented Northwest U.S. heat wave that slammed Seattle and Portland, Oregon, moved inland Tuesday — prompting a electrical utility in Spokane, Washington, to resume rolling blackouts amid heavy power demand.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Heartbroken North Koreans have been worrying tearfully about leader Kim Jong Un's “emaciated looks,” state media quoted a local resident as saying, in a rare acknowledgement of foreign speculation about his weight loss.

HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. (AP) — Fred Flintstone fought the law — and he won.

SEATTLE (AP) — Portland, Oregon, broke its all-time heat record on Saturday. It then broke it again on Sunday, registering a temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius) — besting the record set a day earlier by 4 degrees.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cardi B's “WAP” had new meaning at the BET Awards: winning and pregnant.

The Grammy-winning star debuted her baby bump during a live performance Sunday alongside husband Offset as well as Quavo and Takeoff of Migos.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Intense. Prolonged. Record-breaking. Unprecedented. Abnormal. Dangerous.

That’s how the National Weather Service described the historic heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest, pushing daytime temperatures into the triple digits, disrupting Olympic qualifying events and breaking all-time high temperature records in places unaccustomed to such extreme heat.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — For the past week, they've played the national anthem one time a night at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

On Saturday, the song happened to start while outspoken activist Gwen Berry was standing on the podium after receiving her bronze medal in the hammer throw.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Langley, who was the creator of the long-running TV series “Cops,” has died during a road race in Mexico, a family spokeswoman said.

Langley died in Baja, Mexico, of an apparent heart attack Saturday during the Coast to Coast Ensenada-San Felipe 250 off-road race, family spokeswoman Pam Golum said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A long-awaited U.S. government report on UFOs released Friday makes at least one thing clear: The truth is still out there.

Investigators did not find extraterrestrial links in reviewing 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories.

SANT ESTEVE SESROVIRES, Spain (AP) — The widow of John McAfee, the British-American tycoon who died in a Spanish prison this week while awaiting extradition to the United States, on Friday demanded a “thorough investigation” of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A passenger was taken to the hospital Friday night after jumping out of a moving plane at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

United Express flight 5365, operated by SkyWest, was pulling away from a gate shortly after 7 p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt will advance to the College World Series finals after North Carolina State was forced to drop out because of COVID-19 protocols, the NCAA announced early Saturday.

NC State had only 13 players available during its 3-1 loss to the Commodores on Friday.

An FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a fabled cache of U.S. government gold he said was “stolen during the Civil War” and hidden in a Pennsylvania cave, saying the state might take the gold for itself if the feds asked for permission, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Leaders of Indigenous groups in Canada said Thursday investigators have found more than 600 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children — a discovery that follows last month's report of 215 bodies found at another school.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Songwriter Diane Warren stepped in Thursday to save the life of cow that eluded capture for more than a day after a herd escaped from a Southern California slaughterhouse and stampeded through a suburb.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears told a judge at a dramatic hearing Wednesday she wants an end to the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money for 13 years.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — One of Rembrandt van Rijn's biggest paintings just got a bit bigger.

A marriage of art and artificial intelligence has enabled Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum to recreate parts of the iconic “Night Watch” painting that were snipped off 70 years after Rembrandt finished it.

LONDON (AP) — Winston Marshall, a founding member of folk-rock group Mumford & Sons, announced Thursday that is leaving the band so that he can “speak freely” about political issues.

Marshall took a break from the band in March after sparking a social media storm by tweeting admiration for “Unmasked,” a book by right-wing writer-activist Andy Ngo that attacked far-left militant groups collectively known as antifa.

NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York on Thursday because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After 13 years of near silence in the conservatorship that controls her life and money, Britney Spears passionately told a judge Wednesday that she wants to end the “abusive” case that has made her feel demoralized and enslaved.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — How do astronauts do laundry in space? They don’t.

They wear their underwear, gym clothes and everything else until they can’t take the filth and stink anymore, then junk them.

NEW YORK (AP) — A prominent statue of Theodore Roosevelt at the entrance of The American Museum of Natural History will be removed after years of criticism that it symbolizes colonial subjugation and racial discrimination.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis lawyer and U.S. Senate candidate Mark McCloskey may have been forced to give up his old semi-automatic rifle, but now, he has a new one.

McCloskey on Saturday posted on Twitter of photo of himself posing with an AR-15 at a gun store.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Remember that longing you felt after an episode of “Sex and the City” to shop at the characters' favorite New York haunts and drink cosmopolitans at the same bars? Or that sense of wanderlust for the seaside cliffs of Ireland after watching “Game of Thrones?”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Mississippi Aquarium plans to release seven endangered sea turtles this week, but other institutions in New Orleans and Mississippi are still treating turtles rescued in the fall from frigid New England waters

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib on Monday became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.

Nassib, who is entering his sixth NFL season and second with the Raiders, announced the news on Instagram, saying he wasn't doing it for the attention but because he felt representation and visibility were important.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Britney Spears, who turns 40 this year, speaks to a Los Angeles judge at her own request on Wednesday, she'll do it 13 years into a court-enforced conservatorship that has exercised vast control of her life and money.